NSX Tuning

[Blaze]

Hi:

I'm new to the forums and the NSX. I did several searches but could not find very much information regarding tuning. Yes, there were a few chip comparisons and a few people with ECU knowledge but nothing very specific on how to and what to use.

So, the question is: Do owners 'TUNE' their cars and if so, what do you use and to what degree of sucess? What works and what does not.

My personal experience with tuning stems from the Evolution community.

(1) We use ECU flashes which is the equivilant to a chip in some ways, but often the program is designed around an individual car, it's driver and the behavior of the existing tune.
(2) We use piggy back computers like SAFCs, E-Manage, U-Techs and similar. Most of the piggy backs see sucess up to 400WHP (after which point it just pays to switch to a stand alone to insure precision).
(3) We use stand alones too. The only stand alones I've seen mentioned here were part of the LuvTurbo package.

Thanks for any insight and direction.

Blaze

 

[Scin]

The NSX will not benefit as much as much as a turbo car like the EVO from a stand alone or piggy back computer unless the car is FI.

Dali racing http://www.daliracing.com/, and SOS http://www.scienceofspeed.com/ bother offer reflashed ECU's. These provide for slight power increases in the mid range, and perhaps a very slight increase top end. You can search the forums and find a few dyno charts before and after on the SOS, there is also a comparison in the FAQ with the dali chip.

AEM makes a stand alone system for the OBDI NSX, and there is also an aftermarket harness to adapt this computer to the OBDII cars. The AEM is a fantastic product that is considerably better then any piggy back system. The AEM's are generally used on FI cars due to expense and minimal gains on NA cars. This would be the only system I would reccomend for actually "tuning" an NSX.

I opted for an SOS ECU on my car, the seat of the pants meter says the car might be slightly faster, its hard to tell.

 

[Blaze]

That's interesting.

I found the chip comparison before I posted, thanks.

So you would say that the majority of the power gains (FI aside) for the NSX are seen from bolt on BPUs (basic performance upgrades) rather then manipulating the fuel and timing curves?

I'm familiar with AEM. But do you have any thoughts on HonData? I know nothing about it, but I've heard/seen in used in civics, integras and similar and they seem to hold it in high regard.

Thanks,

Blaze

 

[Scin]

The biggest gain on pre 97 NSX's is headers. Headers seem to consistently net around 20HP. After that would be exaust which will probably yield another 10 - 15HP, another 4 or 5 may be gained by adding a higher performance filter such as a Unifilter and a bigger scoop (the scoop has some debate on how much it helps, most of the help likely comes from more cold air and not from ram air).

A well tuned AEM may be able to add another 10 - 15HP to a NA NSX, especially if the NSX has a bunch of mods. An aftermarket ECU flash may be good for about half that.

I have a buddy that switched to an AEM on his WRX and gained an additional 50HP or something insane (especially in first, and maybe 2nd where boost is limited by the factory computer). You will not see any gains like this on an NA car.

Weight reduction is also a good way to get some nice acceleration gains. Switching the headers out also saves about 10LB, which is another 1HP worth of acceleration. Depending on the exaust you will also drop 15 - 30 LBS, again worth 1.5 - 3HP. This is another reason why headers and exaust are good mods to start with.

I switched to an Oddesy 680 battery which dropped 20 pounds, this is about the same as adding 2HP. You can also remove the spare tire and tool kit to save another 50 pounds.

Dali Racing has a good chart for removing weight from the NSX at: http://www.daliracing.com/v666-5/info/weight_loss/weight_loss_cost_matrix.cfm .

My NSX with I/H/E, ECU and weight reduction will pull on Evo's and STI's that are stock or have I/E mods. Most of these runs were starting at 50 - 60MPH, from a standing start it may be a different story. The NSX has a weak point in the 5 speed tranny in that the shift between 1st and 2nd drops you way out of the power band.

Most of my time has been spent on the road course, where the NSX handling will really outshine most cars. I havn't had the chance to do any 1/4 runs in my car. I did play with a G-Tech (accuracy debatable) a little bit, and according to it my car would run 13.0 - 13.3. Some cars with similar mods have hit high 12's, most are in the low to mid 13's however.

 

[khappucino]

funny you bring this up, a few of my friends have evo's back in NC and I hate the fact that they can download new ecu flashes via email now (now they can be lazy and just run with pre-loaded maps) , i'm soooo jealous haha, but yeah it seems like most of us end up going with generically tuned chips, i'm sure a few people do use AEM for NA tuning, but the vast majority of guys that do any Fuel map / timing tuning are Forced Induction guys or Nitrous guys. I have heard of people using S-AFC but i'm imagining their gains are modest.

well also the big tuning Barrier to Entry is the whole expensive as #@$# if you screw up or are unlucky. If you wanted to buy a crate 3.0 NSX engine from honda it costs around $20k.
You can find a used engine for $6k or so though but for most owners its just that with
such a small pool of tuners compared to 4G63 or B16 guys, the tuning lessons learned are usually
retarded expensive. Well that and all the aftermarket parts for the NSX are 3-4x expensive as
other cars due to severely limited market size

 

[Blaze]

...with
such a small pool of tuners compared to 4G63 or B16 guys, the tuning lessons learned are usually
retarded expensive. Well that and all the aftermarket parts for the NSX are 3-4x expensive as
other cars due to severely limited market size

Well that is a good point. If I blew the engine on my evo, I'd pout, have a beer and swap it out in an afternoon. The NSX on the other hand....

Okay, so next question. After BPUs and before FI solutions, where does a single stage Nitrous Kit fit into the NSX repertoire? From what I've read it's considered safe in moderation (ie, the kit/volume designed for the car rather then the (I want 200 extra WHP @ the push of a button).

My immediate power goal for the car (when I get it) is around 330-345 WHP on a 97-2003 vehicle and to increase the power to weight ratio as much as possible.

Blaze